The six stories in Haruki Murakami’s mesmerizing collection are set at the time of the catastrophic 1995 Kobe earthquake, when Japan became brutally aware of the fragility of its daily existence. But the upheavals that afflict Murakami’s characters are even deeper and more mysterious, emanating... show more

The six stories in Haruki Murakami’s mesmerizing collection are set at the time of the catastrophic 1995 Kobe earthquake, when Japan became brutally aware of the fragility of its daily existence. But the upheavals that afflict Murakami’s characters are even deeper and more mysterious, emanating from a place where the human meets the inhuman. An electronics salesman who has been abruptly deserted by his wife agrees to deliver an enigmatic package—and is rewarded with a glimpse of his true nature. A man who has been raised to view himself as the son of God pursues a stranger who may or may not be his human father. A mild-mannered collection agent receives a visit from a giant talking frog who enlists his help in saving Tokyo from destruction. As haunting as dreams, as potent as oracles, the stories in After the Quake are further proof that Murakami is one of the most visionary writers at work today.

Bookstores:

Unfortunately it seems as if Murakami's short stories and me are not made for one another.They are good, of course, but they don't give me as much as his novels do. They just don't draw me in and leave me speechless.To me they are just okay.

Odd magical realism-ish short stories. I doubt I will even remember any of these in a week or two. But I am not a fan of magical realism-ish stuff, so no surprise that I don't love these. I was actually hoping these stories would be more quake-related, but the title is a little misleading.A great br...

How could something be so beautiful and yet so easy to put down? If I hadn’t come back, it would have been all right. Sometimes, I could wait days, and then reengage and become hypnotized. And yet it didn’t seem to matter if I ever came back. I felt like a Murakami character, exquisitely aware and s...

Stories that are mysterious and some kind of gloomy. Not precisely about the earthquake. I thought it was going to be about people dealing with the event, trying to move on after the loss of a familiar, of someone loving, of the possessions... Of course the earthquake influenced all these characte...

Overall an okay read. There were some stories that I really loved (the one with the boy who didn't know his mother for example - and the one with the woman who goes to Thailand) - others I found less interesting. A good, entertaining and touching read - but I hope to like Murakami's style of writing...

Important: Our sites use cookies.
We use the information stored using cookies and similar technologies for advertising and statistics purposes.
Stored data allow us to tailor the websites to individual user's interests.
Cookies may be also used by third parties cooperating with BookLikes, like advertisers, research companies and providers of multimedia applications.
You can choose how cookies are handled by your device via your browser settings.
If you choose not to receive cookies at any time, BookLikes will not function properly and certain services will not be provided.
For more information, please go to our Privacy Policy.